The Career Development and Outreach Branch (CDOB) organized and supported a myriad of research and career development activities this year. CDOB developed and implemented educational curricula and training plans via one-on-one consultations to synthesize Independent Development Plans (IDPs) for each research, postdoc, visiting, pre-doc, postbac, and summer fellow. Our customized training programs are dedicated to mentoring and training a new generation of scientists. We have initiated policy to ensure trainees (2nd year and beyond) complete IDPs as a requirement of their intramural training responsibilities. Individual consultations are provided to assist with this training. Annually, CDOB organizes and supports a number of research and career development activities to include: (1) Making the Right Moves, a seminar to guide scientific management for postdocs, research fellows and staff scientists; (2) organizing and moderating the Annual Biomedical Research Ethics Training Course; (3) planning and sponsoring independent and collaborative NIH Grant Writing Seminars (including sessions on the NIH grant Review Process); (4) coordinating seminars on navigating the Postbac programs, with an emphasis on applying and interviewing for professional programs; (5) organizing seminars (The Path to Academia, Biotech, and Science Policy/Writing) and collaborative networks to foster potential pipelines for our fellows with academic, industry and other government partners; (6) career counseling; (7) CV/resume writing; (8) offering a scientific writing course through a trans-NIH collaboration; and (9) managing the NIAMS IRP Scientific Travel Award for Research Assistants (STAR Award) program. NIAMS has teamed up with other institutes to provide information on programs that are beneficial to our trainees to include: NIH-Wellcome Trust Program, NIH-Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program, Karolinska Institute Neuroscience Partnership, NIH Graduate Partnership Program, Duke-NIH Masters Program in Clinical Research and the NIH Stadtman Investigator recruitment program. Most recently, the NIAMS CDOB has focused on Communicating Science Effectively. This focus has led to the development and implementation of the NIAMS Three Minute Talk, and the NIH-wide Three Minute Talk initiatives. In addition we have implemented the NIAMS Women in Science seminar series. A major point of emphasis for our branch has been on grant writing and the grant submission process. In this effort, CDOB has organized independent and trans-NIH grant writing seminars and workshops to provide resources to all trainees for NIH/non-NIH funding opportunities. CDOB participated in the Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations Planning (EM/COOP) group, which plans and coordinates emergency transitions on the NIH campus. In addition, CDOB took the lead in administrating the NIH Loan Repayment Program for NIAMS fellows, organized and moderated the mandatory Annual Biomedical Research Ethics Training, organized the Annual Scientific Research Training event, and represented NIAMS on the NIH-wide Training Directors Committee. Scientific Outreach is another integral component of the NIAMS CDOB. We (along with Office of the Scientific Director and Administrative Management Branch) organize the Annual NIAMS Intramural Scientific Retreat, led NIAMS outreach and recruitment efforts through the following: NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival (planning); NIH Community College Day; NIH Hispanic Heritage Month Program (planning); and lastly, participation in national scientific conferences to promote diversity in biomedical research careers, including Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). To continue our outreach and recruitment efforts, CDOB played a major role with campus visits with local universities to include Howard Univ. (Bison Rise Program), Morgan State Univ. (ASPIRE Program), Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County (Meyerhoff Program), and Trinity Univ. (Washington, DC). For these events, CDOB hosted visiting students, presented oral presentations, and coordinated campus and laboratory tours. Continuing to promote diversity and inclusion we have initiated a pilot program to sponsor postdoctoral and post-baccalaureate trainees with an emphasis to the underserved minorities populations (per the NIH guidelines) that continues to support the biomedical research workforce.